Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

For the second Stadium Super Trucks race in a row, Myles Cheek dominated only to lose the win in the closing laps. In Saturday’s case, he was stout as he navigated the streets of Nashville in the face of pressure from Robert Stout until the latter passed him on the penultimate lap.

Cheek’s day began with a drift into Gavin Harlien on the opening lap as they entered turn seven, but he followed Harlien past Bill Hynes for the lead on lap two. Stout kept watch through the competition caution a lap later and before initiating his battle with Cheek.

The two distanced themselves from the field for the rest of the race. With two laps to go, Stout closed the gap rode on Cheek’s bumper across the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge before finding an opening on the inside through turn seven.

Stout did not give up the lead for the final lap as he notched his third career win and second at Nashville after Race #2 in 2021.

Cheek once again settled for second as he did in Long Beach Race #2 in April. Coincidentally, he lost that race to Matt Brabham also on the second to last lap in turn seven.

Noah Gragson has been suspended indefinitely by NASCAR and his Legacy Motor Club team effective immediately after he was found to have liked a racially charged Instagram post. Josh Berry will replace him in the #42 for Sunday’s Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.

The post is an Instagram Reel of George Floyd‘s face superimposed on a crab accompanied by the text “Under Da Knee”, a play on The Little Mermaid song “Under the Sea” and Floyd’s 2020 murder in which since-convicted police officer Derek Chauvin placed his knee on his neck for over nine minutes, killing him by asphyxiation. His death triggered massive protests throughout the United States with ramifications also extending to NASCAR, where Gragson’s friend and fellow Cup driver Bubba Wallace since became an outspoken activist for racial equality. NASCAR also publicly declared its stance against racism in the wake of the protests, famously banning the Confederate battle flag from tracks and urging the industry to show solidarity.

Although the meme was posted on 27 May, Gragson’s interaction was publicised Friday by a since-privated X (formerly Twitter) account. Upon being informed of the tweet, Frontstretch‘s Daniel McFadin reached out to Legacy MC, Chevrolet, and NASCAR, also noting that Gragson’s Instagram profile picture in the X user’s incriminating screenshot is different from his current one. Legacy eventually confirmed his suspension on Saturday morning due to “his actions that do not represent the values of our team.”

Gragson eventually issued an apology that stated, “I am disappointed in myself for my lack of attention and actions on social media. I understand the severity of this situation. I love and appreciate everyone. I try to treat everyone equally no matter who they are. I messed up plain and simple.”

With his suspension sidelining him indefinitely, Gragson will have to undergo sensitivity training before he could be reinstated. Kyle Larson, coincidentally a former driver of a #42 Cup car, underwent the same procedure shortly before Floyd’s death after being suspended for saying a racial slur, completing his training in May and being reinstated five months later.

Williams Racing’s Alex Albon struggled with tyre degradation throughout the Belgian Grand Prix, citing the effect of FW44’s low downforce set-up through the twisty second sector of Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps as the primary culprit. 

Albon had a strong start from his starting position of sixteenth, which propelled him into the points positions. He would remain in the top ten for the first half of the race, but when the tyre issues set in, he slid back down the order. 

In the end, Albon finished the race in fourteenth place after taking three pit stops rather than the expected two, and having to carefully manage his tyres, particularly in the middle stints on the medium compound.

“I had a good start today; however, I was almost surprised I fell out of the points in the mid stint, but I was just struggling so much with degradation. The whole weekend was tricky, and the race was just the same. We’re running low downforce, which is fun but going through sector two, it degs the tyres so much.

“The amount of deg was a bit of a wakeup call, particularly on that Medium tyre. I was having to over-push the tyre to stay in front in sector two and as soon as I tried to manage the tyre, I was immediately under fire from cars behind, so it’s a vicious cycle.”

Matt Brabham‘s Music City Grand Prix double duty weekend began Friday with him running twelfth in Indy NXT practice, then first in Stadium Super Trucks qualifying.

Brabham battled with Robby Gordon for the top spot before the former set a time of 1:52.17 to knock Gordon off the pole by two tenths of a second. He was previously the Fastest Qualifier at the inaugural Nashville weekend in 2021, while Friday’s pole is his twenty-first.

The three-time SST champion is in for a busy Saturday as he will take part in Indy NXT practice in the morning followed by NXT qualifying in the afternoon. SST Race #1 will follow roughly five hours later.

2022 Fastest Qualifier Robert Stout was third, beating Myles Cheek who is running his first SST weekend outside of Long Beach.

“I wasn’t able to get a draft run like I was hoping for,” said Stout. “Brabham and Gordon were out there, they’re having some big runs so I’m going to have a good time trying to chase after them.”

After being a part-time driver for over a decade, Ryan Ellis will race the full NASCAR Xfinity Series season in 2024 for Alpha Prime Racing. The team announced his elevated calendar on Friday.

Ellis joined APR in 2022 on a limited calendar in which he entered twelve rounds. This was upgraded to twenty-four of thirty-three races, the majority coming in their newly opened #43 car, and he has since run all but two of the first twenty races in 2023. While he has yet to score a top ten, he came close at Talladega when he placed eleventh in a rain-shortened affair.

He has raced in NASCAR since 2012, originally starting out as a road course ringer due to his experience in the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup. In the decade-plus since, Ellis has raced in all three NASCAR national divisions, making twenty-six starts in the Truck Series and six in the premier Cup Series. His annual action was mostly sporadic prior to joining APR.

Jeffrey Earnhardt was to the team’s only full-time driver for 2023 but has missed two of the last three races. As such, all three APR cars—the #43, #44, and #45—are all being split between multiple names, with Ellis having raced in both the #43 and #45; his eleventh came in the latter.

The Rallye du Maroc is the only leg of the World Rally-Raid Championship that takes place in Africa, thus making it important to generate domestic interest by giving competitors from the continent an opportunity to take part. This comes in the form of the Africa Rallye Team, a programme overseen by rally organiser ODC Event and its sponsors to bring a group of African bike riders and SSV drivers to the race.

A two-day training school took place in June, where participants are taught the roadbook and dune navigation. Nine were selected from the pool later in the month: Christian Aboud, Souleymane Addahri, Guillaume Borne, Mamadou Boucoum, and Cheikh Yves Jacquemain will race on bikes, whereas Amine and Charif Guessous, Jawhara Bennani, and Sofia Skiredj are in SSVs.

Borne has competed at the Rallye du Maroc since 2019, impressing in the 2022 edition as he finished in Rally3 behind World Rally-Raid Champion Amine Echiguer. He also has rally co-driving experience at the Maroc Historic Rally.

Boucoum finished tenth overall in the 2020 Africa Eco Race to claim the African Rider Trophy, given to the best finishing African competitor. He scored another tenth and third among Malle Moto solo competitors at the most recent race in 2022.

Jacquemain is a seven-time champion of the Senegal Cross-Country Championship.

It has been a difficult NASCAR Xfinity Series campaign for MBM Motorsports, with more races that they failed to qualify than started. They hope Sage Karam can turn their fortune around on Saturday at Michigan International Speedway in the #66 Ford Mustang.

“I am very happy to have Sage in our car,” said team owner Carl Long. “Our seat was open, and it just fell into place. He is a champion who can go fast.

“This season has been the worst in our history. We believe we have competitive cars, we just have not shown it this year. For Michigan, we have a really good Ford car and a really good driver with Sage. I am glad Sage and his group are working with us to help start our turnaround.”

The 2013 Indy NXT champion, Karam has been turning his focus towards NASCAR since his first start in 2021. He is doing a part-time schedule for Alpha Prime Racing with a best finish of twenty-second at Chicago before joining Sam Hunt Racing for last weekend’s Road America race, where he contended for the win before falling back in overtime but still scored a fourth-place run.

With his emphasis on stock cars, he has not run an IndyCar Series race all year after doing an Indianapolis 500-based schedule for the past seven seasons.

Alessandro Alunni Bravi has hinted that both Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu are the preferred choice to remain as drivers for what will become the Sauber F1 Team next year.

Bottas and Zhou are currently racing for Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship in 2023, but with Alfa Romeo withdrawing from their partnership with Sauber, they will return to their original team name from next season.

The team have not had the strongest of seasons so far and currently sit ninth in the Constructors’ Championship with only nine points to their name, with their last top ten finish coming in the Canadian Grand Prix back in June. Bottas scored the teams’ best result of the year in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix when he took eighth place, while Zhou has a pair of ninth place finishes as his best finish of the year in Australia and Spain.

Alunni Bravi, the Team Representative at Alfa Romeo, says the team would prefer to have continuality in its driver line-up next year, although where that leaves current FIA Formula 2 championship leader and long time Sauber Junior driver Théo Pourchaire is unclear.

“Of course, we always said that stability for us is important,” Alunni Bravi is quoted as saying by Motorsportweek.com about its planned driver choices for 2024. “We are a team that is in a transformation process, and we try to be as much stable as possible in all areas.

Esteban Ocon says the recent updates brought to his A523 for the Belgian Grand Prix reflected a noticeable step forward, which helped the BWT Alpine F1 Team driver score points for the first time since the Canadian Grand Prix.

Alpine have continued the development of their 2023 car and brought some significant updates in recent races, and Ocon rewarded them with an eighth place finish at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend, his first top ten finish in four events.

The Frenchman has dedicated the result from Belgium to those working on the car development both at Enstone and Viry-Châtillon, with the pace in the medium- to high- speed corners far more impressive since the updates were introduced.

“It’s very encouraging that each time we bring an update, the car seems to take a step forward,” Ocon is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com.  “Clearly, I dedicate that [Sunday result] to Viry and Enstone, because it’s really encouraging that what we bring to the track really makes us step forward.

“The pace that we had on entry of corners and especially medium- to high- speed, looking at how low in downforce we were, it was quite impressive.

Mike Krack says it is too early for the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team to turn its development focus fully onto the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship as they continue their fight towards the top of the Constructors’ Championship this season.

Aston Martin have been one of the strongest teams throughout the 2023 season so far, with Fernando Alonso securing six podium finishes in the opening twelve races, including second place finishes in both Monaco and Canada.

The team currently sit third in the Constructors’ Championship heading into the summer break, and although they have fallen fifty-one points behind the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team in second place, they are involved in a tight battle with Scuderia Ferrari, just five points separating the two teams.

Krack, the Team Principal at Aston Martin, says more upgrades are coming to their AMR23 after the summer break, including at Circuit Zandvoort, and although some attention has already switched to the 2024 car, they are still looking to improve on their current car.

“All the races have upgrades, and if you have a look at the [upgrade] list for Zandvoort, you will see and you will read something,” Krack is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. 

Despite Alessandro Alunni Bravi feeling that both Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu delivered sold performances during the Belgian Grand Prix, neither driver could break into the top ten on Sunday, with both drivers hindered by where they started the race.

Bottas gained two positions from his starting spot to finish twelfth, while Zhou ended thirteenth having made up four positions.  Both drivers were hampered by their pace in Qualifying, which meant they were left with too much to do to secure a top ten finish.

Alunni Bravi, the Team Representative at Alfa Romeo, believes the team made a step forward in performance at Spa-Francorchamps, particularly in dry conditions, which he hopes will benefit them going forward.

However, he acknowledges that they will need to execute Qualifying better and start from better grid spots if they are to make the most of their improved performance throughout the remainder of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

“Both drivers and the team executed a solid race today: we were able to recover some positions on track, finishing close to the top ten and, most importantly, matching the pace of our competitors,” said Alunni Bravi.  

Valtteri Bottas acknowledged that the Belgian Grand Prix was always going to be a difficult race for Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake, especially when starting amongst a group of cars who are very equally matched.

The Finn started thirteenth but was able to make very little progress across the forty-four lap race at Spa-Francorchamps, with Bottas finishing twelfth, just under five seconds away from the top ten.

Bottas felt that Alfa Romeo’s pace in Belgium was very similar to other cars around him, which made making progress difficult, with his result not helped by the circuit not suiting the strong points of the car.

“We can say today has been a solid race, I was happy with our pace and with the strategy we chose,” said Bottas.  “Overall, it has been pretty much a straightforward one, with nothing much happening after the start, when I went slightly off on the grass to avoid Yuki [Tsunoda], who was heading right.

“Of course, with the pace being very similar for so many cars in the field, it was going to be a bit difficult to make progress, especially taking into consideration how this track hasn’t suited our car best and our starting positions.”

Franz Tost says it was pleasing to see one of his Scuderia AlphaTauri cars finish inside the top ten in Sundays Belgian Grand Prix, with Yuki Tsunoda ending a run of seven races without a point for the Faenza-based squad.

Tsunoda ran as high as sixth at Spa-Francorchamps as others pitted, and he was unable to keep some of those faster cars behind him in the final stint.  However, the Japanese racer was able to take tenth place, the first time he or the team had scored a point since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the end of April.

Daniel Ricciardo paid for losing his best lap time in Qualifying for exceeding track limits by being stuck in traffic virtually all afternoon long on Sunday, with the Australian unable to better sixteenth.

Tost, who will leave his role as Team Principal at AlphaTauri at the end of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, feels the development of the AT04 appears to be heading in the right direction as they were able to finally break their run of pointless races and show themselves to be competitive amongst the midfield in Belgium.

“We started the race with Yuki in P11 and Daniel in P19, so we decided to split the strategy between the two cars: Yuki started on the medium compound, and Daniel on the soft tyre,” said Tost.  “Yuki managed a fantastic start and ended up in P8, keeping his position for a very long time.

Yuki Tsunoda was delighted to end his run of failing to score points by taking tenth place in the Belgian Grand Prix, his first top ten finish since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in April.

The Scuderia AlphaTauri driver has shown some signs of good pace at times during the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season but has not had the car underneath him to break into the top ten, however, this all changed at Spa-Francorchamps when the team had one of their more competitive weekends.

Tsunoda, who did not enjoy his Sprint race on Saturday that saw him finish eighteenth and last of those who saw the chequered flag, was pleased to secure only AlphaTauri’s third point of a frustrating season on Sunday, and he feels it will give everyone confidence going into the summer break.

“The team did a fantastic job today; the car was flying and I’m happy to finish in the points before the summer break,” said Tsunoda.  “A huge well done to the entire team: the mechanics, people in Bicester and Faenza, and trackside engineers.

“It’s been a long time since I scored points, and I’ve been struggling in the last few races, so I’m very happy now. We were slightly lucky with a couple of cars retiring in front of us, but I felt really comfortable during the race.

Otmar Szafnauer has criticised the management team of the BWT Alpine F1 Team following their decision to sack him from his role of Team Principal after the Belgian Grand Prix.

Szafnauer, alongside Sporting Director Alan Permane, were told that they were surplus to requirement by Alpine ahead of the race weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, with both working their last Grand Prix before their departure.

The American, who joined Alpine at the start of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season after departing the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team, felt he was making good steps and bringing in good people to help improve the position of the Enstone-based team, but he has not been given the time to put it all together.

“The reality is that changes take time,” Szafnauer said to Sky Deutschland.  “I signed some good people from other teams, but they are still stuck in their contracts and won’t come until 2024 or 2025.

“You can’t really push development if people aren’t there. It takes time for people to come and it takes time for people to work together correctly.